Bernalillo County lays 42 unclaimed veterans to rest

Forty-two New Mexico veterans were laid to rest Thursday. Some served in World War II, others in Vietnam and some during the Gulf War. The men and women were in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, but they all shared a funeral service at the Santa Fe National Cemetery.

Every year, Bernalillo County and the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services conduct a memorial service and funeral for veterans whose remains are unclaimed. The Forgotten Heroes service is open to other counties. Of the veterans laid to rest, 34 were from Bernalillo County, six were from San Juan, one was from Otero and one came from Doña Ana.

When someone dies without property to pay for a funeral and isn’t claimed by a family — perhaps because the family itself cannot afford a funeral and burial — New Mexico law requires the county where the person resided or died to claim the remains and lay that person to rest.

“When we think of veterans, we often recall the battles they fought on distant shores, the flags flown high and the victories won. But for many of our veterans, their greatest battle began when they came home,” Belen Mayor and Noblin Funeral Service Director Robert Noblin said during the memorial service at Legacy Church in Albuquerque.

“Some faced loneliness, poverty and isolation. Some struggled with the invisible scars of war, scars that often go unnoticed by society. These are many of the stories of our forgotten heroes. We may never fully know the depth of their struggles, but we’re here today to recognize their worth, their service and their humanity.”

In 2010, a group of veterans wanted to claim the remains of indigent veterans as family, according to Deputy County Manager Lisa Sedillo-White, and the annual memorial service for veterans began.

“We were confronted by some veteran organizations that wanted to claim their loved ones, their brother, another veteran, and we couldn’t just hand over the remains,” Sedillo-White said. So, the Forgotten Heroes program was created in partnership with the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services.

“It’s absolutely important for our communities, our state and our nation to honor every single person who has raised their right hand to fight for our freedoms,” said Jamison Herrera, secretary of Veterans’ Services.

When people die in Bernalillo County and appear to have no one to claim them, the county spends at least a year making phone calls and searching online trying to track down next of kin, said Diane Chavez, operations manager for the county’s General Services Division. People who are not eligible for a veteran burial or National Cemetery burial are held for two years before being interred.

“We reunite people even a year later,” Chavez said.

A majority of the 34 Bernalillo County veterans buried Thursday did not have family that could be found, Chavez said.

Most years, a similar number of unclaimed people are buried. But there was a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, not necessarily because of virus deaths, but because more people could not afford to give their loved ones a burial, Chavez said.

Next week, Bernalillo County will hold a service for the people whose remains are unclaimed who are not veterans. The county will bury 225 people — the highest number of unclaimed remains the county has ever had to bury, according to Chavez.